James for Lily
by through the eyes of a muggle
Summary: A James and Lily short story
1. Chapter 1

Lily and James

Lily Evans brushed her bushy red hair out behind her ears, and forced her eyes towards the blank parchment in front of her. It was just after midnight, and she had just come back from patrolling the halls with Potter, now of course, they were Head Boy and Girl. She had finally left Longbottom after a thoroughly non-verbal goodnight and was still reliving the pleasant feeling of being held, and loved. Getting her mind onto other thoughts, she realised the sobriety of Potter that night. She had never seen him so quiet and withdrawn before. She had been entranced by his strong silent body pacing up the corridors, then embarrassed. She was with Frank, she told herself, and yet her heart longed for him to make one of his witty comeback lines or pick up jokes with her. What was more; he had yelled at two younger students and taken points from his own house! This was not Potter; she would have to find out what was going on.

Tiredly, James made his way into the common room, his usually ruffled hair, flat and lifeless at the side of his face. He quoted the password "draconica", with as much life as a door, and sulking in, found himself face to face with a gorgeous red head. He inhaled deeply to get a control on his emotions, Lily Evans made him far too vulnerable for his liking, he had always joked about his feelings for her, so that Sirius wouldn't tease him, and also, he was kinda afraid of what he had felt for her.

"What's up Potter?" she demanded, her tone strong, but her eyes soft. Once again James had that urge to curl up and cry, hoping that her petite frame would wrap around him. He composed himself and muttered, "Look lily, I don't really want to talk about it O.k?"

"I think you do Potter, hey did you just call me Lily?"

He looked up, realising his mistake, expecting a string of fiery words and lashings from her tongue to come bearing down on him. "Look, just not tonight O.K?", and without another word, he walked into his room. He just made it to his room when he collapsed onto his bed and screamed into his pillow, as he mourned for all those he had lost. First his mother, then his father, and finally little Tania, only 5 years old.

Lily hearing him fall onto his bed, and start sobbing, decided to follow, now she was seriously worried. She came across a broken figure, huddled up against the corner of his bed clutching a photo and mumbling to himself incoherently obviously in the middle of a nightmare. Guessing his predicament, she snaked in close to him and engulfed him in a fierce hug. "It will be O.k." she muttered in his ear.

Waking early that morning, James rolled over in shock, to see an extremely gorgeous girl lying next to him. Shaking his head in disbelief he cursed himself. Hell, he didn't want her to see him like this. Still, he couldn't deny what it meant to him having her curled up there next to him. He snuggled in next to her again and fell into a contented sleep.

Waking up several hours later to an angry male voice, James opened his eyes. Shit. Longbottom was here, looking like he was ready to curse him into oblivion. "And what do you mean by sleeping with my girlfriend?" he threatened menacingly, as Lily was attempting to explain. "No Lily, don't even try, we're over, but he has to be punished for it first,", and without thinking Frank punched James square in the jaw, and he blacked out.

When he came round James saw Lily mopping his face gently and applying some ice to his tender jaw. "I mended it", she replied quietly, "but it's going to be sore". James tried to retort, but Lily cut him off again, "no James, I want to talk. I know you are probably sorry about me and Frank, but really it was going to happen anyway, it wasn't your fault. Secondly, I assume those people in the photo were your family right? Well, I just want you to know that I know how you feel. My parents were killed by him last month. I guess I just kept it more contained than you did" He looked at her in shock. He hadn't even known that her parents had died. Suddenly he felt a strong sense of longing to have her in his arms and to protect her small frame. He pulled her in close to him, and surprisingly she didn't retaliate. They lay that way for a few minutes, until James finally worked up the courage to speak, "I really like you Lily." She looked up at him, and seeing her soft eyes bent in close to the nape of her neck.

Finally their lips met. James couldn't believe it. It was like nothing else he had ever experienced with any other girl before. After several minutes of lip locked silence, the atmosphere was finally broken by Sirius. "Hi James, Whoah", he muttered as he saw Lily and James in a fierce embrace. "God you two, get a room", he retorted, before good naturedly going upstairs to warn everyone to use the other exit not passing through the common room.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm really sorry guys, but this next chapter is going to take a while. I have exams this week and next week and have been frantically preparing, so please excuse me. Thanks for all your reviews. Will try and update over the next couple of weeks

Through the eyes of a muggle.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2

Thanks for all my reviews, I'm glad you liked it! Sorry I took so long to continue, but now I am up and at it again.

Here it goes…

It didn't take long for word to get around, that the Head Boy and Girl, Lily Evans and James Potter were dating. Lily's friends Alice and Molly were absolutely delighted to see that Lily had finally found James after all these years of denial. Alice shrieked maniacally when she heard and ran through the common room dancing and singing, "I knew it, I knew it", and Sirius grinned at James all morning until finally James retorted, "What's wrong with you padfoot!" to which he replied, "I saw you, You and Lily, James and Lily, James and Lily"

The entire school was in uproar, and even professor Dumbledore himself stopped to congratulate the pair, with a hearty, "About time, you two", and a famous wink.

James' heart was soaring. It seemed impossible that something so good could come along right when he needed it most. She had helped him through what he had lost and provided him with the love he thought he would never be able to feel again. True, Longbottom tried to hex him everytime they ran into each other, but apart from that, life was great.

The first Hogsmeade visit of the year was coming up and he couldn't wait to take Lily to this really cute romantic café which had just opened. Madam Puddifoot's or something like that. Now all he had to do was ask her. He was just waiting for the right moment, but there never seemed to be one. Infact, James reasoned, Lily had had very little time for anything recently. Every time he saw her, it was just a quick peck on the cheek, and keeping on running. Sure, he understood she was taking a lot more subjects than he was, but surely there was time in the day for her to stop and tell him how she felt, or relax, he reasoned. Finally, he caught a glimpse of her red hair as it flashed through the door to their dorm, and smiling to himself, he got up and went over to greet her. She was now rapidly writing on a piece of parchment at her desk, her eyes glued to the text book in front of her. Slyly, he slid his arms around the back of the chair and engulfed her in a hug. "Hey Lil", he said, whispering in her ear, kissing the side of her neck passionately.

"James", she giggled, twisting around to meet him in a deep embrace. They stayed locked in this crazy position for several minuted, enjoying the touch of the other. Just as James was sliding his hand up Lily's shirt, Sirius walked through the door,

"Hey Prongs…Oh man, why is it always me!" he groaned.

"What is it?" Remus questioned, coming into the room, then shielding his eyes as he saw the two of them, "You could have warned me Padfoot", he exclaimed, "Come on you two, break it up for like two seconds, we have some important news to tell you Prongs."

Reluctantly he removed his hand from Lily's shirt and glared menacingly at the two of them, "This had better be good you two", he said.

"Settle down Prongs", Sirius grinned, "Secret business sorry Lil's", he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"This better not be another ill conceived prank on Severus", Lily warned, "And did I give you permission to call me Lil's Sirius?"

"Gotta go", Remus intervened hastily, "Come on Prongs"

Leaving Lily with one final embrace that had Remus and Sirius groaning inwardly, he escaped out of the room with promises of good behaviour and lack of pranks.

"So what is it guys?" he questioned, ruffling his hair in the casual way that always made the girls swoon, "It'd better not be Severus. I consider making out with Lily much higher on my enjoyment list than his pranks."

"Death Eaters", informed Remus, "Meeting tonight. Thought you might like to disrupt proceedings. Motley and Reseptus are meant to be there."

"We could take 'em out Prongs", said Sirius, studying his friends expression closely, "I mean we don't have a chance against you know who, but those two had a major role to play in your families attack and I say they deserve some serious ass-kicking."

James filled with a sudden hot anger at the mention of the names of his families murderers, agreed straight away.

"What's the plan", he muttered pulling his wand and invisibility cloak from his back pocket, as they made their way to the Womping Willow exit from the castle.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 3: James and Co. stage an attack at the death eater meeting, not without serious consequences. Lucky someone is there to save them.

Making their way into the shrieking shack from beneath the Womping Willow, all three boys prepared to apparate to Riddle Manor.

"Know what to do?" Remus confirmed, "O.k. lets go."

James arrived a few seconds before Sirius and Remus and stared around him at the bleak surroundings. A dark, spooky grave yard, blocked the entrance to a imposing mansion. Remus and Sirius, now arrived, they crept towards the castle, beneath the invisibility cloak. "They'll probably have intrusion alarms", Remus muttered, "I'll try the disengaging charm and see if it works when it's not being pointed directly at the source of the alarm, I think…"

"Just do it Moony", James whispered back. Muttering the incantation, all three drew back in surprise when a faint haze glowed, then disappeared.

"Awesome Moony", Sirius muttered, "let's get in there."

Once inside, James drew the others aside. "Get your costumes on", he muttered, "we'll be a lot less conspicuous if we look like death eaters. We'll enter the room, strike up a conversation with those two, try to get them into a corner, stun them and curse them, then apparate them to the ministry. Hopefully the death eaters won't notice until it's too late. If anything goes wrong, use disillusionment and get out of here, o.k?" When James noted their agreeance, they all moved into the room.

The Death eaters all stood around the room drinking wine and cocktails. It didn't take long to identify Motley and Reseptus. Their masks were half exposed, and revealed Motley's straggly hair and Reseptus' lengthy scar down his neck. James, having lost Sirius and Moony in the crowd made his way over alone, and instantly struck up a conversation for the rest of the night, and at the end they surprisingly agreed to leave the room with him. He had invented a lie about a rare seed pod he had discovered, which had great poisonous properties, and knew they would fall for the bait. Shutting the door behind him, he drew out his wand, and hit Motley with a disarming curse. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did to my family", he yelled, sending a cruciatus curse towards him. Motley roared in pain, as Respetus spun around and began to attack James. "It's the Potter boy", he yelled, "You don't know what you're dealing with boy. I've killed in your family once, and I'm more than capable of doing it again." James broke off the cruciatus and leapt out of the way, as Reseptus sent a killing curse at him, just missing by inches. Snapping Motley's wand quickly to avoid it being retained, he dodged another curse, by inches, as Motley was finally starting to come around. He now tried to grab James, holding onto his body whilst Reseptus sent torture curses toward him. James was now writhing in pain, as he attempted to disarm his opponent. He finally hit Reseptus with Avada Kedavra who fell limply to the floor. Meanwhile, Motley had released his hold, and had grabbed the fallen wand of Reseptus, and drew a slashing motion with the wand. James felt his chest rip open and blood beginning to pour out, as Motley stood over him angrily. "You stupid, traitorous pure-blood boy. I could kill you now, I suppose, but that would not be satisfying enough. Instead, I'll let you bleed to death, to let everyone know that I am not to be messed with. Farewell to the last of the Potters", he grinned triumphantly as James' breathing became shallow and withered.

Meanwhile, Sirius and Remus had been searching the mansion frantically for James, and instead, had come across Malfoy, Nott and Lestrange. They were locked in a fierce duel, when suddenly; all three fell flat to the floor, in a full body bind curse. In shock, they looked up, as Lily Evans removed her disillusionment charm.

"Thanks Lily", Sirius gasped, "But how did you…"

He was broken off by Lily's furious voice, "What the hell were you retards thinking? A fully fledged death eater meeting? I know you guys think you're invincible but attacking death eater meetings for thrills, what is your problem? You guys are the biggest idiots I have ever seen in my life. Thank god I caught you going to the Womping willow and heard you say the Riddle Manor. You could have all been dead!"

"We didn't do it for thrills Lily", Sirius said quietly, "We were here to cast revenge on those who killed Prongs' family; Motley and Reseptus. These three losers simply got in our way."

"Still stupid", she said, "Come on you two, lets go. Where's James?" she questioned as a male scream echoed from the storey above. Lily paled, and rushed up the stairs, all the while ranting at the two of them, "He went after the two of them himself? And you let him? Are you guys into murder or something? Those two are like you know who's top agents. She burst into the room, stunning Reseptus and placing a semi conscious spell upon him, a she noticed a lifeless lump in the corner. Preparing herself for the worst, she crept over and saw, with relief, it was Motley. She turned to them, about to point out their luck, when she noticed another figure, covered in blood, Sirius and Moony frantically checking a pulse. She ran over, and there was her James, lying unconscious and bloody, with a gaping wound on his chest. Suppressing sobs, she choked out instructions. "Sirius, apparate the other two to the ministry, make sure you reach the right people, we can't afford corruption, Remus, go to Dumbledore. Password is Liquorice Mice. I'll apparate to St. Mungo's with James." Silently obeying her instructions, the two boys disappeared, and Lily bent over James, taking off her cloak and wrapping it tightly around the wound. She kissed him gently on the lips, and clutched him close to her as she made her way to St. Mungo's.

Remus had, by now, arrived at the castle, and burst into the professor's office. "Dumbledore, It's James. St. Mungo's, Death Eaters, Lily said he had a pulse but it's weak, and Motley's dead but Reseptus is just unconscious. Sirius is taking them to the ministry now, and Malfoy, Nott and Lestrange are all under the body bind curse at Riddle Manor."

The Minister for Magic, Professor Slughorn, Mad eye Moody and Professor McGonagoll, all stared at him, as Remus realised his mistake. But Dumbledore leapt up, "Lets go", he said, "Minister, you had better go to the ministry and charge the two criminals Mr. Black is bringing in for the Murder of the Potter Family. Come on Remus, you can explain on the way", as they ran from the castle grounds.

"Sir, It was all me and Sirius' fault, we told him about the meeting, I found out because Sirius' mum was talking about it on the weekend, and we thought James would want to wreak some revenge. Thank goodness Lily turned up or we all would have been done for. It was pretty much too late for him anyway."

Dumbledore looked at him, "Is he in a bad way?"

"He had a huge gash across his chest dripping blood when I left. Lily was taking him straight to St. Mungos."

"Right. We'll head straight there", Dumbledore replied as they grasped hands and apparated.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 4

James is at St. Mungo's, and in a bad way.

Landing with a thud in the hallway, Lily screamed at the nearest healer, who came rushing over to help her. Levitating him in the air, the healer instantly took him into an emergency room, where Lily was stopped abruptly by a stern looking matron. "Only family in Emergency Room. Sorry, you'll just have to wait outside."

Lily sank to the floor, her head in her hands, "He has no family. They're all dead. Please just let me in there. I'm practically the closest to him anyway."

The nurse surveyed her critically, "No family", she mused, "O.k. darling whatever you say. If you're so close to him, perhaps you can tell me who he is, and how he managed to sustain those injuries."

Lily, knowing she was in trouble, attempted to create a quick lie, when she heard two voices behind her.

"Lily, Where's James?"

"Oh Remus", Lily broke down in convulsive sobs, "They took him into the emergency and they won't let anyone in except family, and I tried to tell them he has no family and I'm the closest, but they won't listen, and I need to get in there. Besides, how are they meant to treat him if they don't even know what spell was used to bring him to that state?" Lily began again to sob, as a strong set of hands reached out to grab her,

"It's ok. Lily", Dumbledore spoke quietly, then to the matron, "Mr Potter's entire family was murdered by Lord Voldemort and his supporters over the course of the last year. I have been placed as his godfather, if this event should occur, and therefore, I should be allowed to visit James. Also, Ms. Evans and Mr. Lupin were present at the attack, and may be able to provide important information toward his recovery. They will be entering with me. That will be all thankyou", and he strode past the matron, beckoning Lily and Remus to follow.

Once inside, Lily was overwhelmed by the rushing and yelling hurried conjuring of spells, "It's not a result of cruciatus, the wounds wouldn't stay open", yelled one, "Can't be the work of a poisonous dagger, it wouldn't have resisted all our antivenoms", cried another, "It must be from an illegal, privately created spell, no counter curses that would match this kind of injury have worked", concluded the head doctor, "Get an auror out here to assess spell properties and see if it can be created so that we can heal it. In the meantime, get this boy blood replenishing potion intravenously, and rebind the bandages, we'll need more than necessary. Also, a numbing potion. If he does wake up we don't want him in pain. Oh hello, you must be his immediate family", the healer said surveying them grimly, "I'll need a name, previous maladies, a situation, and anything you can tell me about this injury."

Dumbledore stepped forward, "Name's James Potter. He's my godson. All his immediate family is dead. This is Lily Evans, Mr Potter's girlfriend and Remus Lupin, Mr. Potter's best friend. His other friend will probably arrive shortly. We know very little about hi injury. It was performed by a death eater, so it really could be anything."

"Death Eaters at Hogwarts?" the healer questioned incredulously.

"Some of my students managed to escape my eye and leave the castle. They apparated from Hogsmeade. Is there much hope for Mr. Potter at this point?" questioned Dumbledore, at which Lily broke into sobs.

"Well, he's very weak, and he has lost an extreme amount of blood, and the wound does not seem to be healing. It has been a huge shock to Mr. Potter's system, and we really cannot hope to see any recovery until the Auror's can determine the spell used, and even then, the shock to his body may be too great to make a recovery." The healer replied grimly. Just then Sirius burst through the door, "Lily, where's Prongs? Did they heal him? Can we see him yet? It was only a cut right?" then seeing everyone's expressions changed his tact, "O.k. What's the problem?"

Lily spoke first, "We don't now what spell was used. And even if we do know it, his body might be under too much strain to recover."

Sirius' face went from tense, to a deep anger, "I'm gonna kill that little rat, doing this to Prongs. No, I have a better idea. I'll torture him, then kill him using the exact same curse he used on Prongs. After I get it from using extreme torture and then I'll…"

"Or", Dumbledore cut in, "You could take this bottle of Veritaserum, and question him as to what spell he used on James. Possibly a much more legal option if you get Moody to approve it. He's the one on the interrogation, I believe. Sirius, Remus, If you will go, I think Miss Evans and I will stay here for the time being. You may return when you get the spell. Miss Evans", he motioned towards the ward rooms for serious injuries, "Lets go Miss Evans. You can go and see him now."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 5

After the healers had attempted to stabilise James through a great deal of bandaging and intravenous blood replenishing potion, and numbing potion, and a dozen other things which all seemed to be a blur to Lily through her dripping eyes, she heard a gentle voice behind her, "Miss Evans, you can go see him now." Nodding quietly at Dumbledore's instructions, she proceeded into his ward, leaning heavily on his stately frame.

Bending down next to the flat, uniform bed, she gently kissed his forehead, sweeping his hair back away from his now pallid face. A single glistening tear fell from her face and gently dripped down his own seemingly lifeless face, "Come on Potter", she whispered hoarsely, still gasping from her earlier sobs, "You're not going to let those idiots win are you?" At this stage, Remus gently entered through the door, closely followed by Sirius, observing her quietly. At Lily and Dumbledore's inquisitive stare, Sirius explained, "Moody's doing it now. Says we're not allowed, coz we're his mate or something. Should have seen the bastard. Laughing he was. Said he deserved it, thinking he could outwit the dark lord. Moody was practically ready to strangle the guy. Anyway, turns out he took some antidote for it, so they have to let it wear off, Moody says he'll apparate over as soon as he can."

Lily continued to absentmindedly ruffle James' hair, as Dumbledore replied, "Thankyou Sirius, Remus, I will wait outside if you want to talk to Mr. Potter", he replied, "Lily, you are welcome to stay also."

Lily moved over as Remus and Sirius came over to the bedside. "He hasn't changed since you left", she sniffed, as they glanced at the monitor charts, "God, I wish you three weren't so stupid and valiant sometimes", she stood up and made her way outside, just in time to curb the outbreak of sobs, as she huddled in the corner.

Sirius and Remus glanced at each other, "I'll go", Remus answered, and ran down the hallway and out the door where he found a beautiful red head huddled in the corner, hysterical sobs echoing across the hall. Engulfing her in a hug, he whispered the four words that everyone always wants to hear, "He will be okay. He will Lil, Moody was gonna come straight over and then he'll be able to put it right. After all, he is the best Auror around."

Meanwhile, Sirius had drawn closer to the bed, and noticing his ruffled hair attempted a strangled sort of smile, "Hey Prongs, mate, I'm so sorry, we should have been there to help you. We were so stupid. I can't believe it! I really am so sorry mate, it's all my fault. Remus said it was too dangerous from the start, I just didn't listen. I guess I was kinda mad too, that my parents were laughing at the death of the only people that ever felt like real parents. Well, haven't I repaid them well, putting their son in even more danger that they died protecting. I'm really sorry Prongs; I don't even deserve to call myself your brother anymore. Lily was right. We are stupid."

Sirius burst into tears at this last comment, "Please Prongs buddy", he sobbed, "Mate I can't do this without you, I need you and Remus and Peter, the marauders. Please get better mate."

At this last comment however, Moody strode through the door, he too wore an intensely worried expression. "I got the spell", he muttered to Sirius, "We'll just have to see what happens eh? Go get the two blubbering ones outside. He may wake up if all goes well. Sirius practically flew out of the ward and through the doors rousing Remus from his repeated stroking of Lily's hair, as his own tears dripped down. It took two breathless words, "Moody's here". They were up, and running for the ward.


End file.
